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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29081922">Paint Paradise Instead</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DewingedAngel/pseuds/DewingedAngel'>DewingedAngel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Outside of time [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>EXO (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Vampire, Case Fic, M/M, detective! kyungsoo, vampire! baekhyun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:55:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,558</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29081922</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DewingedAngel/pseuds/DewingedAngel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"How did I know Byun Baekhyun?"</p><p>"Do you really want to know?"</p><p>"Yes,"</p><p>"Then, I guess it's time for you to find him,"</p><p> </p><p>----</p><p> </p><p>or, alternatively, Kyungsoo is a detective and is assigned a case that'll blow his past, present, and future wide open.</p><p>[ For top!soo fest round 4: Vampire AU ]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Byun Baekhyun/Do Kyungsoo | D.O</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Outside of time [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2133663</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>top!soo fest: round 4 (2020-2021)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Paint Paradise Instead</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello!! This fic is something I hold dear to my heart, considering I've been meaning to try a mystery/criminal-y fic for a while and I finally got around to getting somewhere with it! I hope you like reading it as much as I did writing!!</p><p> </p><p>WARNING : please be cautious because the first two parts of this fic have explicit description of dead bodies, well, a singular dead body which also counts as a killer's modus operandi. Other than that, the fic is pretty tame if you set aside some little bit of pain lol</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kyungsoo’s suede leather briefcase had just hit the coffee table in the centre of his living room when his mobile phone vibrated against his chest and lit up inside his pocket. He sighed, deciding it would have to wait. He had just gotten home after a long, long day at work trying to piece together enough information to secure a solid lead for the case he had been working on. He desperately needed a long, hot shower.</p><p>He plucked his phone out of his breast pocket and placed it next to the briefcase before he gave in the urge to check the notifications. He was nothing if not a professional, and that was going to be his doom. Or so Jongdae never failed to pick on an opportunity to remind him.</p><p>Kyungsoo peeled his socks off his feet and rolled them out neatly, walking into the laundry room and dumping them in the hamper. He pulled his now wrinkled shirt out from where it had been precisely tucked into his slacks that morning and picked a fluffy towel and a set of cotton pyjamas to sleep in.</p><p>A relaxing shower later, and with a cup of steaming hot lavender tea in one hand, Kyungsoo flopped onto the two-seater leather couch he had possessed for longer than he could remember and pulled his phone towards himself, legs dangling off the arm of the couch.</p><p>He pushed his glasses up his nose and frowned when he noticed a series of missed calls from both Jongdae and Chanyeol, his colleagues and closest friends, and a few texts urging him to call one of them asap.</p><p>He cursed and held his phone up to his ear as the dial tone rang sharply against the otherwise quiet of his apartment. He’d been too tired to even switch on the radio, really. He carded his fingers through his hair and wondered if something had happened to either of them. He knew they were on night duty and they’d only just come in when he’d left. His heartbeat quickened at the thought. Jongdae had a <em> family </em>, a new-born daughter and a wife and if something were to happen –</p><p>“Kyungsoo?” Jongdae’s tinny voice came through the phone, a bit staticy but otherwise unwavering and Kyungsoo let out a sigh of relief.</p><p>“You asked me to call asap. I’m sorry, I was taking a shower,” he spoke into the receiver.</p><p>“No, it’s alright,” Jongdae murmured. “Actually, switch on your television. Watch the news,”</p><p>Kyungsoo frowned but complied. Holding the phone in one hand, he reached for the remote and switched it on, quickly flipping through the channels and landing on the news channel. His heart almost stopped beating.</p><p><em> Fallen Angel has struck again </em> , the headlines flashed in blocky red lettering against a black background. <em> Congressman Kang has fallen victim </em>, the next set of headlines read. The video that looped on the channel was shaky, out of focus and he wondered vaguely if it had been shot on a mobile phone, but quickly filed that thought away as he focussed on the screen.</p><p>The image of the victim was blurred out, thankfully, but Kyungsoo didn’t need to view it to know that the eyes would be gouged out, to know that the hands would be bent at unnatural angles and the phalanges would be shattered, to know that the mouth of the victim would be open in a silent scream, to know that the flash of terror would be palpable even weeks after the death. He knew the spine would be broken; he knew the blood would be drained out. He <em> knew </em>.</p><p>“Kyungsoo?” Jongdae voiced, a frown in his voice evident.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s throat felt parched, like splinters of glass lined it, sharp and stinging. He reached for his lukewarm tea and took a sip before answering. His stomach churned even as the tea warmed him through. “How did the media get to it before we did?”</p><p>“The witness who stumbled upon the body is a reporter,” Jongdae sighed, and Kyungsoo could imagine his fingertips digging into his forehead. “I just thought you’d want to know,”</p><p>“What is the location?” He picked himself off his couch and was already pulling on a fresh pair of socks. His body protested, but he could not simply sit around at home and do nothing when Congressman Kang was the fourth victim and Fallen Angel was still at large.</p><p>He scoffed at the title the killer was dubbed, Fallen Angel. It seemed a bit gaudy to him, but the media and the public were nothing if not dramatic. He did wonder sometimes if the title was fitting. They always did say the loveliest angels made the cruellest demons, after all.</p><p>“There is nothing I can say to make you stay home, is there?” Jongdae sighed. A rhetoric, considering he gave him the directions to the crime scene without waiting for a reply anyway.</p><p>“Thanks,” Kyungsoo murmured into the phone tucked in between his shoulder and his ear as he slipped into his shoes and grabbed his coat, and locked the door to the apartment. “I’ll see you soon.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Thirty minutes later, Kyungsoo pulled into the neighbourhood in Ansan – a particularly high-class neighbourhood, he noted – and parked off the street Jongdae had mentioned. He belatedly realised he had pulled on his coat over his pyjamas and, shrugging to himself, plucked out the small notepad he always kept in the dashboard for emergencies and walked over to the next street.</p><p>The street was bounded with thick yellow tape and was milling about with officers from the Extraordinary Crimes Department and the ME team alike but was surprisingly devoid of reporters and nosy, usually well-meaning neighbours.</p><p>Kyungsoo flashed his identity card with the baby blue tag to one of the rookies standing guard and pulled himself under the tape and walked on, nodding to a few colleagues. He grabbed a pair of latex gloves and a face mask from one of his pockets.</p><p>“Where are the reporters?” Kyungsoo asked quietly, approaching the forensic team’s white, nondescript van when he found Chanyeol bending over some files with a pen in hand and tongue sticking out from between his teeth.</p><p>Chanyeol startled, dropping the pen onto the files and swore under his breath. “Can you not sneak up on me at a goddamn crime scene?”</p><p>Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “You should be more attentive. It’s not my fault. Now, reporters?”</p><p>“Chief Kim,” Chanyeol grinned, as if that was answer enough. And it was.</p><p>Chief Kim Junmyeon headed the  Extraordinary Crimes Division of Violent Crimes was brilliant at his work. Authoritative when necessary, calm and collected otherwise. He commanded their team of seven officers extremely adeptly.</p><p>“Go on, I know you need to look at the body yourself. I think Dr Xiu is handling the Forensics this time as well, lucky for us,”</p><p>Kyungsoo nodded grimly and braced himself. He had been a detective for five years, and a rookie for two before that. He was supposed to be used to it, to the violence that was so inherent in humans. And for the most part, he was. It still unnerved him, though. And there was just something about Fallen Angel that left him on edge. The killer was ruthless, of course, but it almost seemed like a personal vendetta, to Kyungsoo. No matter how random the victims seemed to be on the surface, Kyungsoo knew he just had to keep looking. There <em> had </em> to be a connection.</p><p>He found Dr Xiu and his small team of three other pathologists bent over the body as he approached quietly, only a small sigh escaping him when his eyes fell on the body.</p><p>Congressman Kang’s body was lying in the middle of the eerily empty street, he noticed. For a residential area, there was not a single vehicle parked along the street. The lights in the surrounding houses were switched off.</p><p>“Does nobody live on this street?” Kyungsoo frowned in question, crouching down besides Minseok and returning the small smile thrown his way.</p><p>Minseok was carefully trying to extract DNA, if any, from underneath the victim’s fingernails. He placed the cotton swab neatly in the evidence bag and zipped it before answering, “Apparently not. Junmyeon sent some officers to investigate it. Not a soul in sight, neither human nor vampire,”</p><p>Kyungsoo clicked his tongue. He flipped open his notepad and uncapped his pen and poised it above the ruled pages. “What can you give me, Dr Xiu,”</p><p>“Same MO,” Minseok answered quietly. “Blood drained, eyes gone, phalanges shattered.” He swung his flashlight against the victim’s neck, pushing it to the side with the help of his gloved fingers and pointed to the wrinkled, but otherwise smooth skin. “No puncture marks. The skin isn’t cracking either. It has to be Fallen Angel, Officer Do,”</p><p>Kyungsoo pursed his lips, scribbling in the key words in bulleted points. “Do you think it could be a vampire with blood magic?”</p><p>“Even in such cases, the skin would react to light, Kyungsoo,”</p><p>There were three ways to identify if a person had fallen victim to a vampire instead of to a human,</p>
<ol>
<li>      The victim’s body will be found to have traces of Porphyrin, however minimal. Always.</li>
<li>      The skin will crack and crumble under the smallest of light sources. Always.</li>
<li>      Especially when sucked completely dry, or even otherwise, Rigor Mortis will set in immediately with absolutely no lag time. Always.</li>
</ol><p>“Time of death?”</p><p>“The body is still very warm. I’d have to put it in between 9 and 9:45 pm. I’ll confirm it later, but it hasn’t been that long,”</p><p>“So, the victim is human, then,”</p><p>“Definitely,” Minseok nodded, pointing to the lack of a registration ring on the victim’s fingers.</p><p>The oddest part of the case was exactly that. Fallen Angel, being human, was somehow managing to kill humans and vampires alike with the same modus operandi, save for the traces of silver found in the vampire victims, as was seen in the previous two murders.</p><p>“Wow,” he stood, stretching his legs and almost walked around when his shoe caught on something hard and he frowned. Bending down, he found a familiar baby blue tag and ID card. “Is Kim Jongin here?” he asked Minseok.</p><p>“Hmm?” Minseok looked up at him. He found the ID card in Kyungsoo’s hands and nodded. “Ah, yeah. He was asking me things a while ago. It must have slipped out of his pocket,”</p><p>“Where is he?”</p><p>“With the witness. He went to question him with Jongdae,” Minseok replied, turning back to the body. “Go find the ambulance,”</p><p>“When will you be able to complete the autopsy?”</p><p>“I’ll have the report on your table by the afternoon, alright? Although, you can proceed with your investigation normally. I have no doubt that it’s Fallen Angel,”</p><p>“Okay,”</p><p>Kyungsoo found the ambulance a little distance away. Jongin was standing in front of a man with light brown hair whom he assumed to be the witness. Jongin had his hands in his pockets, a gentle look on his face and speaking softly. Jongin was still in uniform, surprisingly. He had left the station at the same time Kyungsoo had.</p><p>“Officer Kim,” he jogged up to them and folded his arms across his chest, his lips pursed thin.</p><p>“Oh, Senior Officer Do,” Jongin turned to smile at him. “He’s the witness, Cho Taejin. He hasn’t said a word,”</p><p>Kyungsoo turned his attention to the witness and was surprised to find him shivering. He was covered with a thick blanket and was clutching a warm cup of coffee in between his hands but he was shaking vigorously. His eyes were trained on the ground and he jerked, eyes wide with fear when Kyungsoo approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Cho Taejin ssi?”</p><p>The man gulped, his eyes flitting all over the place.</p><p>“Cho Taejin ssi, I need you to answer some questions,” Kyungsoo muttered quietly. “Do you live close by?”</p><p>The man didn’t respond, eyes resolutely trained somewhere behind Kyungsoo.</p><p>Kyungsoo sighed. “Cho Taejin ssi, it’ll be easier for all of us if we don’t have to go down to the station. Is that clear?”</p><p>“Officer,” an indignant voice came from his right side and Kyungsoo noticed one of the paramedics make his way to him. “The witness is in shock. He needs time. He won’t be able to respond to your questions at the moment,” the paramedic said, voice dripping with admonishment. “He will be brought to the station tomorrow, but for now, he needs medical attention. So, please,”</p><p>“Are you certain?”</p><p>“Yes,”</p><p>“Fine,” he turned back to the witness. “It honestly would have been simpler if you could just answer right away,”</p><p>“Officer!”</p><p>Kyungsoo ignored the cry. “No matter, we will see you at the station at five in the afternoon tomorrow. Ask for Officer Do,” and he turned away, but stopped short when he remembered.</p><p>“Officer Kim,” he called and pulled out the ID card. “Your ID is very important, Officer Kim. Be careful with it,” he thrust it at Jongin’s chest and gave him a look before deciding to return home.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo’s back protested as he dropped himself into the uncomfortable office chair at his desk and screwed his eyes shut, letting his head fall against the headrest. It was barely seven, he wasn’t required to be at the station before eight, but he hadn’t been able to sleep. He had been restless, his mind too full of thoughts to simply shut down.</p><p>“Did you sleep at all?” Jongdae asked, packing up his bag and slinging it across his shoulders.</p><p>Kyungsoo hummed softly, not wanting to open his eyes or speak up. His head was pounding, and he desperately needed some coffee. “A little, I think,”</p><p>Jongdae sighed and walked over to him and ran his fingers through Kyungsoo’s hair. “You need to take better care of yourself, Soo,”</p><p>“Yeah,”</p><p>“I’m leaving now, I’ll be back in the afternoon, I think. No more night shifts for another two weeks,” Jongdae cheered with a smile. “Chanyeol has already left. Don’t get too much in your head, okay? Let us know if you need any help,”</p><p>“Okay,” Kyungsoo nodded. “But I don’t need a partner. I’m fine on my own,” and he was. In his entire five-year career as a detective, excluding two years that he was a rookie for, he had never had a partner and he liked it best that way.</p><p>Jongdae clicked his tongue and flicked a finger against Kyungsoo’s forehead, eliciting an ‘ouch’. “We work in the same department, you fool. There isn’t anything wrong with conferring with us. Stop being so stubborn and ask for help when you need it,”</p><p>He stayed quiet for a bit, enjoying the sensation of Jongdae’s fingers in his hair and he nuzzled into the touch. “Thank you,” he said. “Off you go, you said you’ll have to come back in a few hours anyway,”</p><p>“Yeah, I’ll see you then,”</p><p>Kyungsoo waved as he watched Jongdae retreat, and turned back to switch on his computer when a flash of colour caught his eye. A post-it note, fluorescent pink in colour, was pasted on top of a file he recognised to be the same as one used by the ME office. A frown knitting his eyebrows together, he picked the file up and pulled the note away.</p><p>Black lettering stood out in stark contrast; a single Case Number was jotted on it precisely. It was encircled, as if to emphasize its importance. Below the number was a small, scribbled caricature of what he assumed was a fallen angel, the body bent doubled and with wings sprouting out of its back. He flipped it around and found the note to be blank on the other side. His frown deepened.</p><p>He picked up the telephone on his desk and dialled the extension that would connect him to Minseok’s office directly and waited for the dial tone. He drummed his fingers against the tabletop as he waited for the answering voice, a little on edge. His gut was churning, something told him Minseok had nothing to do with the note. He would have recognised his handwriting, either way.</p><p>“Medical Examiner’s office, Seoul Metropolitan Police Department, Dr Xiu speaking,”</p><p>“Minseok hyung,”</p><p>“Ah, Kyungsoo. Did you find the autopsy report? Is something not clear?”</p><p>“No, I just found the report. I haven’t looked through it yet,” Kyungsoo spoke, his fingers trailing along the edges of the note. “Did you leave a sticky note on top? With a case number and a caricature?”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“There was a note on top of the file. I was wondering if you left it for me,”</p><p>“No. I only sent the file up through one of the interns. Ask one of them if they know anything about it,”</p><p>“Yeah, Thanks for getting the report done so quickly, by the way,”</p><p>“No trouble. Catch the bastard soon, yeah?”</p><p>“Yeah,” and he hung up.</p><p>That conversation was enough to spring him into action. There was something extremely strange surrounding the events of the case and he needed answers. Not a single lead was turning out viable, he had exhausted almost every angle, there weren’t any witnesses with the previous three victims and the present one didn’t talk yet. And he would be damned if he didn’t grab the smallest of opportunities to blow the case wide open.</p><p>He pulled open one of the drawers and plucked an evidence bag. Placing the post-it in it, he zipped it tight, but not before copying the case number onto a fresh page of his notepad. Slipping the evidence bag carefully into his breast pocket, he leaned and looked around the office once, and satisfied with the room being almost empty save for an officer who was sitting facing him beyond the partition of his cubicle, he input the case number in the virtual file archive and pressed enter.</p><p>He laced his fingers together and rested his chin on his intertwined hands and watched with mounting trepidation as the tiny dot at the top corner of the cursor circled around itself; waiting for what, he didn’t know.  </p><p>A single hyperlink titled <em> Fledgeling Case – 2018 </em> popped up on the screen, entirely unassuming in its position.</p><p>The 2018 jumped at him. He searched his memory for something, anything to strike him. He had been a part of the team for a solid three years by then, but nothing jingled in his mind. And yet, his uneasiness only heightened, the longer he stared at the screen.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s hand shook as he placed his hand on the mouse and clicked on the link. His heart was beating thrice as fast as normal, his hands felt clammy and slick with sweat.</p><p>And he simply didn’t understand <em> why </em>.</p><p>The page that ultimately managed to load and fill his screen only managed to churn his stomach further.</p><p>A pop-up box decorated the centre of the screen, white and with bolded black lettering; a symbol of a golden yellow triangle with an exclamation mark sharp against it, beside the message that declared the file to be password protected.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s hand stilled.</p><p>Very few files were deemed important enough to be password protected.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Yixing had his head rested against his hands; fingers laced together at the base of his neck and feet propped up alongside the monitor, humming an unfamiliar tune under his breath when Kyungsoo knocked on the glass door to his cubicle, essentially startling him enough for him to let out a ‘<em> shit’ </em> and a surprised laugh.</p><p>Kyungsoo allowed himself a small smile and walked in, “Were you day-dreaming again?”</p><p>“I was bored out of my mind,” Yixing muttered before pushing himself into his chair properly and gesturing for Kyungsoo to take the one opposite his desk. “It’s rare to see you at the IT department,” he remarked, all mirth draining from his face as carefully regarding Kyungsoo while he took his seat.</p><p>“It is,” Kyungsoo agreed.</p><p>“It’s even rarer for you to drop by unannounced,”</p><p>Kyungsoo merely nodded. He knew Yixing understood the implication behind his visit when Yixing got up from his chair and went around, letting the blinds fall in place for some semblance of privacy in the otherwise glass enclosed office.</p><p>“I’m assuming you’ve come to cash in your favour,” Yixing spoke clearly and without any hesitation.</p><p>He liked that about Yixing. The man was straightforward to a fault, none of the beating around the bushes the other officers usually preferred. That, and Yixing provided excellent company, knowing when to be silent, knowing when not to be.</p><p>“No questions asked?” Even though Kyungsoo posed it as a question, it was anything but. He knew that; Yixing knew that. It had been the original agreement after all. That they each would owe the other one favour, no questions asked. It was simply confirmation.</p><p>Yixing nodded slowly.</p><p>Kyungsoo pulled out his notepad along with the small evidence bag and placed them on the desk in front of Yixing. “I need you to pull this file for me and get me everything related to it. Spare no detail, I also need you to run this through fingerprint and handwriting analytics. I don’t have connections there, but I trust you do and will be able to get it done discreetly,”</p><p>He watched carefully as Yixing picked up the evidence bag holding the post-it note, watched as his expression shuttered and looked up with a strange expression on his face.</p><p>“The Fledgling Case,” Yixing declared softly. “It is password protected,” he said after a beat.</p><p>Kyungsoo felt his eyes widen slightly in surprise. “How do you know what case it is by looking at the case number?”</p><p>“I personally placed the protection. I encrypted it to make sure it wouldn’t be accessible to anybody but Junmyeon and I,” Yixing replied, peering at him with a critical eye. “I can’t give you access to this, Kyungsoo. I don’t even know how you got a hold of this,” he waved the evidence bag in the air as if to emphasize.</p><p>“It doesn’t matter,” Kyungsoo bristled at that. “You owe me,”</p><p>“I do, yes,” Yixing pursed his lips, “but this is beyond me. This file is not something you should want to reopen. Not now, not ever. I do not want to be responsible for –,” he paused. “I can’t do this,”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s eyes narrowed. Responsible for what, he wanted to ask. Instead, he pulled out a file he had been keeping as last resort and tossed it onto the desk. He hadn’t wanted to use the information as a weapon, no. “My informant from the Vampire Council got back to me a yesterday,”</p><p>Yixing inhaled sharply. “Is that –,”</p><p>“Yes, it is,” Kyungsoo replied, dragging a finger along the spine of the dark brown but otherwise nondescript file. “I got you what you wanted. Now it’s your turn, don’t you think?”</p><p>“Are you blackmailing me, Kyungsoo?” Yixing leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow, hands folded across his chest.</p><p>“I call it exchanging favours,” Kyungsoo let the corners of his lips upturn slightly. He pulled the file towards himself and placed a palm on it, fingers splayed. “I’d rather my informant didn’t go through all the trouble putting himself at risk for this,” he gestured vaguely with his hand, “for nothing,”</p><p>“You should have become a lawyer instead,” Yixing remarked a while after silence had settled between the two, shaking his head. “Keep an eye on your personal email. Do not breathe a word of where you got the information from,”</p><p>“Pleasure working with you,” Kyungsoo smiled and let himself out.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo had his head cradled against three fingers of his, his elbow resting on the desk; the cord of the landline lay twisting in the air as he held the receiver up with the other hand, waiting on the nurse to reply when two things happened in quick succession, both of which only contributed to his restlessness.</p><p>“I’m sorry, officer, but Cho Taejin ssi cannot make it to the station today. He has refused to consume any food and is in a bad state of shock at the moment,” the nurse from the hospital the witness had been taken to spoke into the phone. “We cannot discharge him in such a state,”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s irritation flared, but he stamped it down forcefully. “Would it be alright if I come down to the hospital instead?” He pulled his hand away from his head and drummed his fingers against the polished surface of the desk, a random rhythm in tandem with the pulsing of his temporal artery.</p><p>“No,” the nurse said simply, but Kyungsoo could hear the hesitation in her voice, debating whether to elaborate or not. Kyungsoo waited. “He’s frightened, officer; of what, we don’t know. But every time someone enters the ward, he cowers into himself and refuses to look up. The doctor suspects he had witnessed something more than what he asked for. His mental state is fragile. It would be best to not force him to speak, just in case,”</p><p>“I –,” Kyungsoo paused momentarily as he caught the small pinpoint green light at the top right corner of his mobile phone blink thrice, indicating the arrival of a message, an email, something. His stomach swooped in its position. He had been jittery since he had walked out of Yixing’s office the previous day, too much on edge to either concentrate on other cases, or even to simply rest. He grabbed his phone from where he’d placed it at the side of the monitor on his desk and input the password, unlocking it.</p><p>The notifications bar pulled down, and the email arrival was clearly indicated.</p><p>“Officer Do?”</p><p>Kyungsoo had momentarily forgotten himself. “I’m sorry, Nurse Kim. Something came up, I need to cut this conversation short,” he replied. “But the investigation cannot be put on hold any longer. I will need to question him tomorrow by the latest. I hope you can convey that to the necessary doctors and Cho Taejin ssi’s lawyer as well. I hope you understand,”</p><p>“I’ll let them know, Officer,”</p><p>“Thank you,”</p><p>Kyungsoo’s hands shook as he clicked on the email notification.</p><p>The page loaded far too slowly for his liking, and for the nervous energy that had taken residence in his veins and refused to leave; comfortable where it was.</p><p> </p><p>Case Number: 08042018</p><p>Date: 08 April 2018</p><p>Reporting Officer: Byun Baekhyun [Vampire, Extraordinary Crimes] and [redacted]</p><p>Prepared By: Zhang Yixing</p><p> </p><p>Incident Type: Vampire attack</p><p>Address of Occurrence: All over the city, along the Han River</p><p> </p><p>Witnesses: ---</p><p>Evidence: ---</p><p>Weapon/Objects Used: None of import</p><p>Victim(s): [redacted]</p><p>The first incident was reported on the 19th of March, 2018 in the early morning hours when Victim A was found having left a trail of blood and three humans dead and drained of blood. Victim A was taken into custody soon after and was under expert protection by the Vampire Council. The case was considered to be of independent nature.</p><p>Series of events of similar fashion continued, a total of 7 fledglings were created. Fledglings who will henceforth be referred to as Victims were taken to safety. The Rogue Vampire was apprehended by Officers Byun Baekhyun and [redacted] and is set to go on trial.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The report was bare. The Victims’ names had not been listed; of the two officers, only one name was listed; the evidence section was worse than bare. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the screen, wondering if more information would pop up if he stared long enough, or if he mentally willed it to appear.</p><p>It was so, so strange; the mystery shrouding the case reminding him of the ongoing one, of Fallen Angel.</p><p>He vaguely wondered what connection a closed case could have to a serial killer. It made no sense, and he decided it wouldn’t make sense until he had all the details regarding it instead of bare bones.</p><p>Kyungsoo’s finger traced the name of the officer, Byun Baekhyun. His heart inexplicably lurched in his thoracic cavity; his throat constricted just a fraction. The pulsing headache radiated all through his head, striking him with a sudden intensity he hadn’t thought a mere headache could amount to. He had never had migraines before, and he couldn’t help but wonder if his headache was one.</p><p>His breath hitched slightly when he belatedly realised Byun Baekhyun was a hyperlink and the page that loaded only served to plummet his stomach to the ground and then even lower.</p><p>The profile that came up suggested Officer Byun had been with Extraordinary Crimes long before Kyungsoo had joined the ranks but had left quoting “Personal Reasons” in the middle of 2018. There was no picture attached to the profile, but scrolling down, he found a list of all the cases the officer had worked on.</p><p>Hundreds of cases were listed, all in the order of <em> Date Solved </em>. The sheer amount of cases was not what caught his attention.</p><p>The cases, starting from 2015 were familiar, far too familiar for Kyungsoo to ignore his gut.</p><p>He knew those cases intimately.</p><p>He <em> knew </em>, because he had worked on them. He had solved them. And he had done that alone.</p><p>It simply couldn’t have been possible that he had failed to meet the Officer who supposedly had the Highest Close Rate every year and running, up until he had left.</p><p>Kyungsoo needed answers.</p><p>He promptly requested access to the physical archives.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The café they’d chosen to have lunch at was filled with mundane noises, of plates moving across the tabletops, of spoons and forks clashing against the ceramic tableware, of the susurrus of voices of the other patrons around them enough to fill the silence that occupied their table.</p><p>It was the first time in a while their schedules had matched up, and Jongdae had mentioned there was a café he had been wanting to visit. The décor was beautiful, and he would have noticed if he had been paying any attention at all. But attention was sparse, mind otherwise preoccupied with many, many lines of thoughts; all leaving trails deep enough to mar the plain paths but not sharp enough to jog at his memory.</p><p>Chanyeol was recounting a particularly engaging incident about something, if Jongdae’s raucous laughter was anything to go by, but Kyungsoo couldn’t bring himself to listen, couldn’t bring himself to join in.</p><p>He was busy shovelling in spoons of fried rice topped with thin shreds of pickled radish almost on reflex, barely even registering the taste that he had failed to notice the silence that had fallen over them.</p><p>“Kyungsoo?” Jongdae prompted, regarding him with eyes dripping with concern, a hand tucked under his chin.</p><p>He hummed,</p><p>“Is something bothering you?”</p><p>Kyungsoo paused, letting his spoon drop back onto the plate with a clang and leaned back. A <em> no </em> was almost reflexive, but he swallowed it back consciously and tried to string together words in a way that would make him sound curious and not suspicious; no matter that he was almost sure he was missing something the entirety of his department was privy to, including his friends.</p><p>He had managed to scour through some old books lying around in one of the unused corners of the room and had managed to unearth a few books, all standard Police Academy books, with Byun Baekhyun’s name written at the top corner of the first page.</p><p>His head had ached with a new fervour at the handwriting that had dotted along the margins of the pages when he flipped through them, little titbits of nothing and everything all at the same time. Doodles littered the corners of the pages, intricate at times and meaningless otherwise. It had managed to somehow burn a hole through Kyungsoo’s chest, and had made him <em> hurt </em> for no obvious reason.</p><p>“Who is Byun Baekhyun,” he asked slowly, enunciating each syllable clearly.</p><p>A spoon clattered to the ground, its sound loud even when their surroundings at that moment were anything but silent, and Chanyeol ducked beneath the table with a murmured apology even as Jongdae’s expression twitched for a mere second, but that was enough time for Kyungsoo to read him.</p><p>“Who?” Chanyeol asked, emerging with the spoon in hand. He placed it aside on the table and called on a waiter for another.</p><p>“Byun Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo replied casually, digging into his fried rice once again.</p><p>“An officer who used to work with us a few years ago at Extraordinary Crimes,” Jongdae measured his words, his eyes on Kyungsoo, following his every movement, foolishly thinking Kyungsoo unaware.</p><p>“Where is he now? He left us, I’m assuming,”</p><p>“He’s a Private Investigator, I think,” Chanyeol nodded his thanks to the waiter who arrived with a new set of cutleries for him.</p><p>“Why?"</p><p>“What do you mean why?” Jongdae leaned forward, frowning quietly and resting his elbows on the table. His half-eaten lunch lay ignored in front of him.</p><p>“Why did he leave?”</p><p>“We wouldn’t know. We didn’t know him very well,”</p><p>Kyungsoo looked up, then, watched them seated across from him with interest. He noted Chanyeol’s unfocussed gaze, he noted the way Jongdae’s fingers were intertwined and his forefinger was tapping against his other hand; all nervous tells, all gathered from years of having known them.</p><p>He dropped his gaze and nudged Jongdae’s plate just a bit. “You should eat before it gets cold,” perhaps, it had already lost its warmth.</p><p>“Where did you come across his name?” Chanyeol asked, resolutely avoiding his eyes. It irked Kyungsoo, but he didn’t mention it.</p><p>“I came across it when I was reading up on the Fledgling Case,”</p><p>Chanyeol’s gaze snapped to his, and Kyungsoo suppressed a small smile of satisfaction that was threatening to overtake. Instead, he met his eyes and held contact.</p><p>“That’s impossible. Baekhyun’s name isn’t –,” Jongdae clamped his mouth shut promptly. The damage was already done, though.</p><p>“Do you know him?” Kyungsoo asked quietly, all the air of calmness shrugged away. His voice was soft, but it was laced with ice.</p><p>“No,”</p><p>“Do not lie to me,”</p><p>Chanyeol flinched momentarily. “No,”</p><p>Kyungsoo watched with barely controlled rage as Chanyeol and Jongdae exchanged a laden look. He positively despised being out of loop. His anger only mounted the longer they stayed silent, neither meeting his eyes. He clenched his hands into fists, felt the blunted nails dig into the skin of his palms. “Fine,” he managed to mutter. “I’ll find out myself,”</p><p>“Kyungsoo,” Jongdae stood, pushing his chair back and the sound of scraping legs resounded ugly and sharp in his ears. “Don’t,”</p><p>“It is my case,” he hadn’t realised he had stood up.</p><p>“It’s not worth it,” Chanyeol supplied quietly, still seated.</p><p>Kyungsoo took a deep breath in. “Yes. Yes, it is,”</p><p>“Please, Kyungsoo,” and for a moment, it looked like Jongdae wanted to reach out, to grasp at Kyungsoo’s shirt, but his hand faltered mid-air, and it hurt.</p><p>He pressed his lips thin and exhaled softly before slamming a few bills on the table next to his plate and stormed out of the café.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>He was denied access to the physical archives. His day was progressively getting worse and worse.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo had his arms folded across his chest, his hands resting in the crooks of his elbows, and a foot tapping the ground beneath his shoes every passing second as he stared at the white board he was standing in front of. He was on his fifth cup of coffee for the day and it left him feeling jittery and off-centre. Sleep had become a luxury recently, and he considered himself lucky if he could catch a solid few hours of uninterrupted sleep.</p><p>Four names were written across the top, Kim Woojung, Park Hyejin, Lee Sungmin and Kang Hoyoung; each being the victims of Fallen Angel, each coming from different walks of life. Below the names were listed their locations and times of death. Kyungsoo noted there was a precise two-week gap between each murder and considering it had been three days since Kang’s death, he had approximately ten days to make some headway.</p><p>Kim Woojung, a businessman who owned sixty percent of the shares in one of the leading companies of the world; Park Hyejin, a doctor who also doubled as a philanthropist and ran multiple NGOs; Lee Sungmin, a research scientist who was well known not just in South Korea but all over the world for his prowess in vampire physiology; and lastly, Kang Hoyoung, a congressman who was set to be mayor in the upcoming elections.</p><p>Kyungsoo bent over his table and grabbed the black marker. Pulling the cap off with his teeth, he jotted down the most jarring piece of information that only seemed to throw the whole case into even more of a mystery; Park Hyejin and Lee Sungmin had both been registered vampires, their history since birth having been fed into the archives.</p><p>How in the world could a human overpower and kill a vampire, a born vampire at that?</p><p>Kyungsoo was stumped.</p><p>Vampires were an anomaly. They weren’t supposed to exist, but they did. An autosomal recessive disorder, they’d discovered centuries after the first vampire was registered in documents – and shunned, humans had always been just a bunch of hypocrites who feared anything they didn’t understand, who threatened violence unnecessarily – a deficiency of one of the enzymes in the haem synthesis cycle that resulted in the production of excessive porphyrins.</p><p>It hadn’t helped that vampires evolved. The earliest manuscripts had records of vampires with special powers, of fingertips aflame, of channelling water, of venomous teeth all with a snap of fingers. Alchemy, they’d said; witches, they’d called them. Burnt them alive, staked their hearts.</p><p><em> The soft snow is stained red, rivulets of blood run deep into the soil. The soil is red now, the brown is long gone </em>; Kyungsoo remembered with clarity reading that particular sentence for required reading during police academy.</p><p>Human atrocity hadn’t lasted long. The vampires had started fighting back. And then came war, and with it, destruction, chaos, utter despair.</p><p>A tentative peace treaty had been finally forged when both sides had considerable losses. The Vampire Council had certain terms, and the Human Council had a few. And that had been almost seventy years ago.</p><p>Every child born since was tested immediately, and if the newborn was found to be a vampire, they would be registered, and an identification ring would be slipped into the child’s fingers. Organised blood banks kept the society running, quelling the need for the unnecessary death of humans. The Vampire Council kept precise track of every vampire and worked in tandem with the police force.</p><p>The trouble with Fallen Angel was the absolute failure to obtain even the smallest of hairs, or a single thread of clothing. DNA was a far cry. The killer knew perfectly well how to keep safe, how to avoid leaving a single trace; and it frustrated Kyungsoo to no end, especially with the higher ups breathing down his neck.</p><p>Kyungsoo sighed as he plopped into his chair and pulled on the files he had gone through enough times to recite word to word, only to startle when a hand landed on his shoulder. He whipped around, relaxing when he found Jongin tentatively peering at him, concern written across his face. </p><p>“I called you, but you seemed to be preoccupied,” Jongin laughed, sheepish.</p><p>“No, that’s alright. I could use a break. What’s up? Did you need something?”</p><p>“The witness is finally here,”</p><p>Kyungsoo stood back up so quickly, he almost upended his table. “Where is he?”</p><p>“His lawyer said the interrogation room would be fine,” Jongin replied, gesturing with a hand and following behind. “I offered to bring them out to your table but apparently the witness might retreat into his mind in the midst of too many people,”</p><p>He nodded. “Do you want to sit in?”</p><p>Jongin’s eyes lit up, a smile graced his face. “I was hoping to, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble,”</p><p>The interrogation rooms were located at the back of the building, three floors up. Four rooms in total, each fitted with a single table and three metal chairs. The paint was purposefully left peeling off the walls, an intimidation tactic which, surprisingly, worked miraculously most times. Two of the rooms were fitted with extra details, a pair of silver handcuffs and ankle chains attached to the table, for the vampire counterparts.</p><p>Jongin reached over to turn the knob to the fourth room, situated right at the end of the corridor. A man pristinely dressed in a pressed black suit stood up and offered a bow when Kyungsoo walked in. Kyungsoo returned the bow politely. “Officer Do Kyungsoo,” he gestured to Jongin, “and this is Officer Kim Jongin, but you might already know that,”</p><p>“Lawyer Cha Hakyeon,”</p><p>“Shall we start?”</p><p>“Yes,”</p><p>Kyungsoo dragged one of the metal chairs away from the table and sat himself in, waiting for the other two to settle down before he pulled out his notepad and a pen. He flipped the notepad to a fresh page and cleared his throat when Jongin finished setting up the voice recorder.</p><p>“Seventeenth of November 2020, 5:38 pm. Officers Do and Kim in interrogation room four in the presence of witness Cho Taejin and Lawyer Cha Hakyeon for the purpose of recording the witness statement with respect to Fallen Angel, and Congressman Kang in particular,” he rattled off, keeping an eye on the red pinpoint light blinking on top of the recorder.</p><p>He turned to the witness in question, found him staring blankly at the recorder, face devoid of expression. “Cho Taejin ssi?”</p><p>Taejin didn’t so much as flinch.</p><p>“Cho Taejin ssi,” he sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Your witness statement is of utmost importance for us. Will you please talk to us about what you saw that night?”</p><p>Taejin remained silent, still staring vacantly.</p><p>“I’m sorry, officer. If I may interrupt,” Hakyeon voiced, pushing his glasses up his nose and looking straight at him.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“The doctors have diagnosed Taejin ssi with PTSD. He refuses to speak and I have all the hospital records stating that he isn’t in the mental state to do so,” Hakyeon said with an apologetic smile, hand sweeping over a bunch of documents spread out across the metal table.</p><p>Kyungsoo dragged a hand through his hair.</p><p>“Is there no way to get him to talk?” Jongin questioned, his ever-present smile just a tad dimmed.</p><p> “The doctors say it may take weeks, if not months,”</p><p>Kyungsoo repressed the urge to scream. It wasn’t any of their faults, it wasn’t, but the case was starting to go around in circles, and he had been hoping the witness would give him something solid, something to hold on to, something to blow it wide open with.</p><p>“But there is something that may be of help,” Hakyeon continued and Kyungsoo shot up in his chair, back straight and attention rapt.</p><p>Hakyeon bent sideways to pick up his briefcase and placed it carefully on the table. He unlocked it and pulled out a folder and opened it, passing it to Kyungsoo. “He hasn’t spoken yet, but he has taken to drawing. Here are some of the pictures from the past two days. I’m not sure how helpful they are, but – well, you can deduce it yourself,”</p><p>The picture was dark. The colours were black, brown and flashes of midnight blue. Two stick figures were drawn in the centre of the page, one on either side of what he assumed was a road. The midnight blue above them indicated night-time. The two figures were far apart, both looking in the same direction, as if one was behind the other.</p><p>The next picture was equally dark, but with the two figures facing each other, one figure looking down and the other smiling. He could tell the figure was smiling by the single curved line drawn at the bottom half of its face. Something twisted in Kyungsoo’s stomach.</p><p>Another picture, and two figures were still drawn. One of the figures was on the ground, the other still smiling.</p><p>A chill ran down Kyungsoo’s spine. He passed the file along to Jongin for a look.</p><p>“He has drawn these?”</p><p>“Yes,” Hakyeon replied. “It took a lot of coaxing by the doctors for him to give up those drawings. I hope they’ll be useful,”</p><p>“We’ll send them through to an analyst,” Jongin replied, his smile wiped off and voice grim. “The man with the smiling face is terrifying,”</p><p>Kyungsoo couldn’t agree more.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo’s hands were clammy with sweat, his phone almost slipping out of his hands as he pulled it out of his pockets. The lighting in the archive room was dim, casting long shadows across the floor and the walls; almost every available space was taken up by floor to ceiling metal racks filled with files upon files, of cases solved, of those gone cold, of those still ongoing. The file he had lodged open and set in between his stomach and the metal rack was precarious at best and he knew he didn’t have much time before the officer in charge of guarding the room would be back.</p><p>He’d managed to find a loophole for accessing the physical archives; his request for the Fledgling Case may have been rejected, but he could still put in a request to access some of his own older casefiles, and all the casefiles were in the same room.</p><p>Kyungsoo flipped the file open and stared at the heading for a moment before unlocking his phone and capturing a picture quickly. It wouldn’t do to stall for time. His breathing was quick and sharp, his heart was hammering in his chest. A shock of thrill ran up his spine as he flipped another page and took another picture.</p><p>And then his heart almost stopped breathing when his ears caught the sound of approaching chatter.</p><p>He closed the casefile shut and pushed himself away. Pulling the cabinet open, he slid the file back into place before he spun on his heels. A flash of white caught his eye, and he bent to pick the laminated paper up just as the knob to the archive room rattled and Kyungsoo shoved what he assumed to be a photograph of sorts into his pocket and jogged towards his section and picked up the documents he had originally been permissioned to.</p><p>The door swung open and a head peeked in. “Oh, Officer Do, did you find what you were looking for?”</p><p>Kyungsoo waved the documents in the air and tilted his head. “Thank you,” he said and quickly passed the officer and walked back to his cubicle on wobbly legs, nervous beyond reason. The photograph in his pocket was beginning to weigh more than a mere piece of paper had any right to.</p><p>He stopped short as he entered his part of the room, finding Chanyeol perched at the edge of Kyungsoo’s chair, his forefinger clasped in between his teeth.</p><p>Irritation at his friends keeping secrets from him emerged to the surface anew. Pursing his lips, he marched over to his table, and huffed. He slammed the files on his table and ignored the way Chanyeol flinched and inched away slightly. “Move, I have work to do,”</p><p>“Kyungsoo,”</p><p>“Officer Park,” he muttered through clenched teeth, not bothering to look at him, “It’s day four today and I have less than ten days to find a viable lead. Unless you’re here to tell me, who Byun Baekhyun is and what the fledgling case was about, then I suggest you leave me be and let me do my work,”</p><p>Silence stretched between the two, Kyungsoo’s irritation flaring with each mounting second. He clenched his fists and looked up to glare at Chanyeol. He tapped his foot on the ground, punctuating every breath he took. Chanyeol refused to speak up.</p><p>“I don’t have all day,” he sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose and turning away to look for something, anything to do that would keep up the appearances.</p><p>“Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol started, “You know we’re always here for you, don’t you?”</p><p>Kyungsoo startled, not having expected that. He slid his eyes to meet Chanyeol’s gaze for a fraction of a second before turning away. “It certainly hasn’t felt that way recently,” maybe he was being petulant, stubborn; but he couldn’t help the hurt from creeping in.</p><p> A sigh heaved out of Chanyeol’s mouth. “I’m sorry, Soo. I wish things weren’t like this. I wish I could tell you everything,”</p><p>“But you won’t,”</p><p>“I can’t,”</p><p>Kyungsoo looked up, then, abandoning all pretence of being busy. “What?”</p><p>“Sometimes, things are best left to the dark,” Chanyeol smiled at him, rueful and brittle. “I hope you understand we’re doing this to keep you safe,”</p><p>And just like that, irritation flared back up to the surface and Kyungsoo’s mood soured. “If that is all you have to say to me, then I’d suggest you leave me be and let me get back to work, Officer,”</p><p>Chanyeol frowned minutely but obliged when he noticed Kyungsoo’s clenched fists and harsh glare.</p><p>It took him a few minutes of sweeping across the floor in front of his work table and burning holes into the ground, into the air and everything around him for Kyungsoo to calm down and settle back into a semblance of normalcy.</p><p> He sat back in his chair and unlocked his phone, scrolling to the gallery and pulling the two photos he had managed to capture. The first photo had nothing of significance, it outlined the Fledgling Case similar to what was in the casefile Yixing had gotten for him; suspiciously bare and empty.</p><p>He swiped to the left and double tapped on the screen to enlarge the image. His breath hitched as the letters came into focus. The page was similar to the previous one but had a lot more information; information that failed to register in Kyungsoo’s mind, the letters and characters all blurring together.</p><p>A single part of the page was beginning to etch itself into his brain, almost as if a spotlight shone on it.</p><p>Reporting Officer: Byun Baekhyun [Vampire, Extraordinary Crimes] and Do Kyungsoo [Human, Extraordinary Crimes]</p><p>Kyungsoo dropped his phone onto the desk, his hands shook with the effort it took for him to brace himself against it. His mind was spinning. His throat felt parched, lined with glass and dirt and debris. His gut twisted. His heart thundered.</p><p>A white noise sharpened steeply in his ears, the only other noise was that of his blood thrumming incessantly through his arteries and veins, pulsing in his ears.</p><p>
  <em> Reporting Officer Do Kyungsoo. </em>
</p><p>What? Just – what?</p><p>A subtle pain had started somewhere behind his eyelids as he tried to read through the rest of the report, but his comprehending skills stuttered, and nothing made sense.</p><p>Belatedly, Kyungsoo remembered he had shoved a photograph into his slacks, and he stretched his leg in an effort to pull it out. His hands trembled when his fingers curled around the lamination; he wasn’t sure if he wanted to shove it back into his pocket or pull it out. In the end, he decided it would have to be like ripping off a band aid, quick and efficient.</p><p>Vaguely, he wondered if that was what lucid dreaming felt like; detached and yet present. He stared at the photograph as if he was peeking through someone else’s memories, through someone else’s eyes. His mind was hazy, his eyes blurred, his throat constricting as he stared, and stared; possibly hoping for the image to vanish, or maybe for his head to stop hurting, he couldn’t say.</p><p>The photograph itself was worn, the edges blunting over and losing some of the sharpness. There was a crease along one the edges and his fingers traced the veins of lines that behaved like a dog eared page, flipping up and down; but his eyes didn’t stray from the two people in the photograph, they couldn’t.</p><p>The two people had smiles stretching ear to ear, eyes trained on each other. The tenderness that dripped from their gazes was palpable and Kyungsoo felt a pang in his chest, sharp and tangy. An overwhelming sense of grief crept up unannounced, leaving him panting. It was so, so intimate, watching his own face mould into an expression of such elation – with none of the walls and facades he usually kept up – and eyes brimming with tenderness and fondness, and love, as he stared at the other person in the photograph.</p><p>Was it truly him, or were his eyes playing tricks?</p><p>He flipped the photograph over, finding an impeccable script in black lettering.</p><p>
  <em> Because forever is a long time, but with you, I’m willing to try. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> - Yours, Byun Baekhyun </em>
</p><p>Kyungsoo’s heart dropped through to his stomach, and then lowered when he realised the other person in the photograph must have been Byun Baekhyun.</p><p>He traced a finger along the smile on Baekhyun’s face, teeth peeking out of the corners, eyes curved into crescents, arm around Kyungsoo’s waist, head rested against Kyungsoo’s shoulders. He didn’t notice he had begun to cry until a singular drop of his tears fell onto photograph-Kyungsoo’s face.</p><p>He was so, so lost.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>He walked round in a daze, registering absolutely nothing. He tried so hard to focus, he barely had any time after all, but his brain refrained from cooperating. He had wondered briefly if Yixing would have answers, if he would tell him about what the photograph meant, but in the end, he decided to end the cold war and seek Chanyeol and Jongdae.</p><p>They were bent across a desk, files and other sheaves of papers spread across each inch of it, pencils held in hands and frowns in place. Jongdae noticed him first, straightening up instantly and offering him a tentative smile.</p><p>Kyungsoo stared back, vacant and feeling emptier and lonelier than ever.</p><p>“Kyungsoo?” Jongdae frowned, reaching over to pull a stool and push him onto the seat. He pulled another one for himself and plonked down, immediately reaching over to pull Kyungsoo’s hands into his own and rubbing soothing circles into Kyungsoo’s skin with the pads of his thumbs. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>Kyunsgoo looked up at him, and then at Chanyeol who had opted to perch on the edge of the desk, both watching him carefully as he tried to get his bearings right and string the words together. He felt hollow, still; it had been hours since he’d returned from the archives, but he couldn’t help it. His entire body felt heavy, and the simple task of breathing in and breathing out was proving to be draining.</p><p>“Kyungsoo, you’re scaring us,” Chanyeol murmured, reaching over to run his fingers through Kyungsoo’s hair.</p><p>He shook his head once in an effort to clear his mind and cleared his throat. “I found something,”</p><p>He watched his friends exchange a glance, but he didn’t bother reacting. He’d know soon, anyway. He pulled out the photograph and placed it on the desk, still staring, still unable to move his eyes away from the moment that had been captured, away from the pure bliss that had been immortalised.</p><p>He flicked his eyes to Jongdae and Chanyeol briefly, watching as they stared with twin expressions of horror and understanding at the photograph and then at him; and asked quietly. “How did I know Byun Baekhyun?”</p><p>Silence between the three had never felt as oppressive and uncomfortable as it did at that moment.</p><p>“Do you really want to know?” Chanyeol asked, his voice barely above a whisper.</p><p>“Yes,” he replied with conviction. Kyungsoo had never been as sure of something ever before. </p><p>“Then, I guess it’s time for you to find him,”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kyungsoo stared at the building he stood in front of, the address Jongdae had directed him to was painted across a wooden plank and attached to the side wall. The building looked far from what he assumed an office of a private investigator would look like; it fell more on the residential side of buildings, if anything.</p><p>When he’d driven up, and even as he was parking his car in the lot behind the building, he vaguely wondered if he should have taken up Jongdae and Chanyeol on their offer to accompany him, but he still felt he had done the right thing by declining. This was something he would have to do on his own.</p><p>He pulled his briefcase closer to himself and took a deep breath, twice, thrice. Deciding there was no point in stalling, he pushed his glasses up his nose and rang the doorbell. The melody was loud enough for him to hear it from the other side of the door, and the pang in his chest increased when he recognised the tune that floated out. It was one of his favourite songs.</p><p>“I’m coming,” a voice shouted from the inside and Kyungsoo flinched as a series of colourful curses made their way to his ears following a loud crash and the tell-tale sound of glass shattering. “Fuck,” the voice swore and just as Kyungsoo began to wonder if he should have not come to begin with, the door swung open and his world stopped spinning.</p><p>Time seemed to deceptively still as the two stared at each other.</p><p>The noise from the vehicles behind him on the street faded out as Kyungsoo’s eyes widened at the person, Baekhyun, stood with his fingers gripping the doorknob so tight Kyungsoo could see the veins of his forearm bulge. His eyes trailed up to meet Baekhyun’s, his breath caught somewhere in between his chest and his throat as his heart began to pound anew.</p><p>Everything from recognition to fear to panic to tenderness seemed to flash through Baekhyun’s eyes before they shuttered, and a curtain fell into place. Baekhyun blinked, straightening up and folding his arms across his chest. “Hello, how may I help you?”</p><p>Kyungsoo felt his blood boil. He knew, he <em> knew </em> Baekhyun recognised him. But if Baekhyun wanted to feign ignorance, then very well. He was itching to know what the hell happened to him, to <em> them </em>, but if that was what Baekhyun wanted to do, then fine. Two could play at the game. Stamping down on his rage, he cleared his throat and pulled on the fakest smile he could muster. “Officer Do Kyungsoo from Extraordinary Crimes,” he flashed his ID.</p><p>Baekhyun nodded, not moving from his position in front of the door and hands still held tightly across his chest; Kyungsoo had to wonder if he was trying hard to not fall apart, or if it was simply a defensive position.</p><p>“I was directed here by Officers Park and Kim,” he said slowly, regarding Baekhyun’s eyes carefully, and feeling a piece of a long lost puzzle fall into place as he watched him flinch at the mention of their names. “I’m here to confer with you on an old case that you had worked on, Officer Byun,”</p><p>“I’m not an officer,” Baekhyun hesitated before replying.</p><p>Kyungsoo could clearly watch as he fought internally and finally gave up to step aside and open the door wider, letting Kyungsoo in.</p><p>The inside was surprisingly spacious, well-lit and with state-of-the-art furniture. Thick carpets lined the floors and he followed Baekhyun as he gestured to him, side stepping the shards of glass that littered one corner of the wall in the corridor. A soft melody of a girl group song played in the background, drowning the silence of the place.</p><p>Baekhyun opened a door. “Take a seat, I’ll be right with you. Would you like something to drink?”</p><p>Kyungsoo had half a mind to scream at him to stop playing host and cut the crap but smiled instead and declined. He sat himself down in a chair across from the one that faced a computer and settled down. The room was spacious, well-lit and immaculately kept. One wall was lined with a bookshelf, the other was adorned with large, framed paintings. A large window was situated across from his chair and a view of a garden peeked through the half-closed curtains.</p><p>He drummed his fingertips against the polished surface of the mahogany desk, noticing a few small frames turned away from him. His fingers itched to grab them and have a peek, but he refrained, afraid of what he would find.</p><p>Baekhyun walked back in with two cups of steaming hot tea placed in a tray and pushed one towards Kyungsoo regardless of his reply, taking the other one for himself and settling into his chair. He watched Kyungsoo silently, and Kyungsoo sighed before reaching over and taking a sip.</p><p>It surprised him, but maybe it shouldn’t have, that Baekhyun knew exactly how he liked his tea. He dabbed a paper towel against his lips before pushing the cup of tea away.</p><p>“Talk me through what you need from me,” Baekhyun said a few minutes in.</p><p>“Have you heard of Fallen Angel?”</p><p>Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. “Of course, who hasn’t?” he narrowed his eyes and rested his elbows on the table. “But it’s a very recent case, and I left the department two years ago,”</p><p>“I came across something that may have a connection to this case, and you were one of the reporting officers on it,” Kyungsoo weighed his words before speaking, his eyes trained on Baekhyun’s face.</p><p>To his credit, Baekhyun’s expression did not falter.</p><p>“I need you to talk to me about the Fledgling Case,” Kyungsoo dropped.</p><p>Within the span of a mere second, Kyungsoo noted the temperature drop, and the room became chilly. Baekhyun’s body visibly tensed and his expression shuttered; the lazy smile on his face was replaced by something sharp. His nostrils flared and his eyes flashed with barely concealed rage; it did nothing to keep Kyungsoo’s own at bay.</p><p>“I’ll show you the way out, officer,” Baekhyun spoke through clenched teeth, pushing his body upright and stalking towards the door of the office.</p><p>“I’m not leaving without answers,”</p><p>“I’m not giving you any,”</p><p>“So be it, then,” Kyungsoo refused to move. He sat rooted in the chair, shrugging even as Baekhyun stood tapping his foot on the ground rhythmically. He was stubborn, and if Baekhyun truly did know him, then he knew just how stubborn Kyungsoo could be.</p><p>Baekhyun massaged his temple with the tips of two of his fingers. “I need you to leave, officer. You will not find any answers here,”</p><p>“I disagree, Baekhyun. I am certain there are some things only you can answer,” he gambled the use of Baekhyun’s name, wondering if it would make any difference.</p><p>Baekhyun’s eyes snapped to his at that, his eyes hard and devoid of any trace of emotion. “Stop being stubborn, Soo,” he seethed, dragging his fingers through his hair, and as if only then realising what slipped out of his mouth, his hand halted midway and he sucked in a sharp breath.</p><p>Kyungsoo stopped breathing. His head spun and he tightened his grip on the armchair, his fingers curled tightly around the cold, cold metal. It felt like he was drowning, every breath he took in felt like a burden. His ears deafened, everything zoned out. His eyes blurred as they struggled to focus, only to put Baekhyun’s panicked face in his direct line of sight.</p><p>He saw it happen clearly, as if in slow motion; Baekhyun took in a deep breath and shook his head minutely, swallowed once and sighed once again. Without breaking eye-contact, Baekhyun spoke softly, “I crossed a line, I’m so so –,”</p><p>Kyungsoo cut him short. He didn’t want excuses. He wanted answers. “No, don’t you dare apologise,” he spat. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the photograph and slammed it down on the desk in between them. “Don’t you dare retract it. You know me. I know you know me. I just want to know <em> how </em>,”</p><p>“I have nothing to say to you,” Baekhyun replied. His voice shook, his eyes trained on the photograph, he didn’t even try to hide the tremors.</p><p>Kyungsoo watched as Baekhyun’s hands trembled, his hands clenched into fists; he watched as Baekhyun involuntarily took a step towards the desk and his right hand began to reach over; he watched as a flash of familiar silver glinted on one of Baekhyun’s fingers; and Kyungsoo shot out of his chair.</p><p>The briefcase clattered to the carpeted floor with a muted thud. It split open with impact, multiple files and sheaves of loose papers and pens and pencils spilled out.</p><p>Kyungsoo clasped Baekhyun’s hand, his fingers curling at his wrist and pulling the hand into his own. He stared, his heart having ascended into his throat. A platinum band stared back at him, glinting happily and without any care as Kyungsoo’s world slowly unravelled at the seams, as the fibres of the very essence of what kept him together frayed relentlessly.</p><p>Baekhyun’s protests to let him go fell on deaf ears. It was only when Baekhyun pulled his hand free and wrung his wrist in the air a couple of times that everything rushed into Kyungsoo and he swayed on his spot.</p><p>Baekhyun reached over to steady him with a hand on his arm, but Kyungsoo shook him off. He still felt lightheaded, but he had something he needed to confirm. His hands rose up to the collar of his shirt. He unbuttoned the top of his shirt wordlessly and pulled out a silver chain that he always had wrapped around his neck.</p><p>The chain itself was simple, but it was the pendant that was cause for concern. Kyungsoo enclosed the pendant and felt the cool metal press into his skin, the edges of it dug into the skin of his palms and it grounded him. He unfurled his fingers and let the pendant out in the open. A platinum ring the same shade and size and shape as the one that rested on Baekhyun’s ring finger showed itself, entirely unassuming as it rested at Kyungsoo’s sternum, close to his heart as it was always kept.</p><p>His eyes slowly swept up to Baekhyun’s face. Baekhyun was frozen, his jaw having dropped open. “I knew you rather intimately, didn’t I?” Kyungsoo asked, his voice soft, as if afraid he would break apart if he spoke any louder than a whisper.</p><p>Baekhyun’s eyes snapped to his and he nodded, gulping loudly. He pulled the ring off his fingers and placed it on the photograph. He nodded minutely to Kyungsoo when he silently asked if he could pick it up. “I didn’t know you kept it,” Baekhyun marvelled.</p><p>Kyungsoo traced the boundary of Baekhyun’s ring before picking it up and tilting it to let the light from the overhead tube lights fall onto the inner seam. <em> Forever </em> was etched clearly into it and his heart hammered in his chest. “I’ve had it for as long as I can remember,” he said, one hand flying up to touch his own. “I never could go long without it. I always felt cold and empty without,” he looked at Baekhyun, then, “I just didn’t know what it signified. It was very strange that I couldn’t remember when it made me feel so safe and yet lonely,”</p><p>“I’m sorry,”</p><p>“Do you still have nothing to say to me?”</p><p>Baekhyun sighed and instead of walking over to the other side of the table, he opted to seat himself in the chair next to the one Kyungsoo had occupied and gestured for him to take his seat. “I don’t know where to start,” </p><p>“From the beginning, please,”</p><p>“I’m a vampire,” Baekhyun said after a while of silence.</p><p>Kyungsoo nodded, he was aware of that, after all.</p><p>“I’m also one of the few vampires with mind-bending abilities,” Baekhyun confessed, looking into Kyungsoo’s eyes.</p><p>Kyungsoo sucked in a sharp breath. That wasn’t in the files, and he assumed he must have said it out aloud when Baekhyun gave a short, wry laugh.</p><p>“I had them classify that information,” Baekhyun replied, staring at his hands resting in his lap. “I had them classify a lot of things, actually. All dangerous, all that put you at risk even without your knowledge,”</p><p>Kyungsoo stayed silent. His mind was still reeling, after all. He had a feeling Baekhyun had more to say, he let him mull over his thoughts and string the words together.</p><p>“There are a lot of things that are much, much worse than the criminals you deal with, Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun sighed. “At one point, you found out too much about certain things that you shouldn’t have ever found, and – did you ever wonder how and why you have a scar on your abdomen?”</p><p>Kyungsoo startled, but then again, he shouldn’t have been surprised, he supposed. “Jongdae told me it was from an accident, but he failed to elaborate. Chanyeol resolutely refused to speak to me about it at all,”</p><p>Baekhyun smiled, rueful and tight. “Like I said, you found out too much and that had put you at risk. That scar is proof of that. It’s a miracle you survived that,” he paused, lost in memories. “Your memories are dangerous, Kyungsoo. Even without them you’re not safe, I don’t want to be the one to put your life in danger once again,”</p><p>The choice of wordings did not escape Kyungsoo, but he pushed it aside for the moment.</p><p>“I’m afraid it will set off a series of events if I restore your memories,” Baekhyun said, taking Kyungsoo’s hands in his own. “I’m aware it’s selfish, but I’d rather have you safe and alive without your memories, even if I have to live in this limbo of pain forever,”</p><p>Kyungsoo stared at their hands in Baekhyun’s lap. “I’m willing to take the risk,” he muttered quietly.</p><p>“You don’t know what the repercussions could be,”</p><p>“That’s okay, I’ll learn,”</p><p>“I cannot talk you out of this, can I?” Baekhyun asked with a hollow laugh.</p><p>“I’m afraid not,” Kyungsoo managed a tiny smile, just the corners of his lips upturned slightly.</p><p>Baekhyun pulled his hands away and clenched his fists softly. “I’ll tell you what, sleep on it. Give it some thought. If you still think you want your memories back, come back to me,”</p><p>Kyungsoo straightened instantly, arguments and protests at the tip of his tongue, but he bit them back. As much as he knew what he wanted, rash decisions weren’t always the way to go. His eyes fell on the photograph and Baekhyun’s ring that still lay on it, and his stomach rolled, “I don’t think my decision will change, but okay, I’ll come back tomorrow,”</p><p>“Thank you,”</p><p>Kyungsoo stood then, having pushed the spilled contents of his briefcase back in. He looked at Baekhyun, not entirely sure how to go about saying goodbye when Baekhyun spoke up.</p><p>“I don’t want to burden you,” Baekhyun started, playing with the ring he has slipped back onto his finger and avoiding eye contact, “but I wanted to tell you that, well, I’ve missed you terribly, Soo. I’m being selfish again, but I guess I can’t help it. Not when you’re right there,” he paused then, finally looking at Kyungsoo. “Can I hug you, please?”</p><p>Kyungsoo wasn’t a tactile person, he savoured personal space a lot more than an average person; maybe it was the hesitance in Baekhyun’s voice, or maybe it was the way his own heart thudded at the prospect of an embrace, but he found himself nodding. He set his briefcase aside and stepped closer, bringing his arms around Baekhyun’s body; cooler than a human, but that was to be expected. But the hug itself warmed him from the inside and he barely held back the gasp that threatened to leave his mouth when he felt Baekhyun’s hands around his body, and Baekhyun’s chin tucking his face underneath.</p><p>He was still surrounded by Baekhyun’s scent, something flowery and musky all at the same time, even as he shifted gears in his car and backed out of the parking lot. His heart refused to beat at a normal pace still, and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but wonder if he imagined Baekhyun’s voice whispering sweet nothings into his hair.</p><p>Wisps of Baekhyun that ghosted along his body, lingering tingles of body against body refused to disintegrate even when he drove back home with a heavy, heavy heart.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>Omake</em> </b>
</p><p>The moment Kyungsoo settled himself in his office, Baekhyun walked back on wobbly legs into the kitchen, softly shutting the door behind him and sank to his knees. He dug the heels of his palms into his eyes and forced himself to focus on anything, something that wasn’t Kyungsoo, or the fact that he was there in his home, <em> their </em> home at one point.</p><p>His head spun.</p><p>What the actual fuck?</p><p>His hands shook as he pulled out his phone and dialled Chanyeol, chanting mentally for him to pick up the goddamn phone.</p><p>“Hey,” Chanyeol greeted, his voice dripping with hesitance.</p><p>“Don’t fucking hey me,” Baekhyun hissed, gripping the marble counter of the kitchen island with one hand and lowering himself to sit on the floor. His haunches had begun to hurt. “What the fuck is Kyungsoo doing here?”</p><p>“Ah, he’s there already?” Chanyeol laughed, sheepish. “There was nothing we could do. He found some things from back then and we don’t even know how. You know how adamant he can be,”</p><p>Baekhyun sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “What am I supposed to do now?” his voice broke and emotion clogged up his throat, his mind was beginning to shut down. “I was doing so well knowing it was all to keep him safe, but now he turns up looking healthier than ever and demanding to be let in,” he paused and shuddered. “Do you realise how difficult it was for me to stay away all this time?”</p><p>“I’m honestly very sorry, Baekhyun. But maybe, everything happens for a reason?”</p><p>“I cannot lose him again, Chanyeol. What if I can’t let go this time? I already lost him twice and one of those times, we didn’t even know if he would survive,” Baekhyun stared at the vinyl flooring of his kitchen. “I don’t know what to do,”</p><p>“Do you want me to come over?” Chanyeol voiced quietly.</p><p>“What good will that do?” Baekhyun laughed lifelessly. “It’s fine. I’ll take care of it,”</p><p>“Are you sure?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Baekhyun nodded, half to himself. “Yeah, it’ll be fine. I’ll make sure he knows what he’s getting into,”</p><p>“I’m not asking about him, you know?” Chanyeol said quietly. “He doesn’t know anything right now. I know he will be fine, if just a bit angry at us. I’m not worried about him.”</p><p>Baekhyun fought the lump forming in his throat. “Yeah, something tells me he isn’t going to leave without answers. I’ll just have to brace myself and get through this,”</p><p>“Once again, we’re really sorry,”</p><p>“It’s fine. Just, thank you for picking up the call. I feel better,” Baekhyun sighed, picking himself off the floor and filling the electric kettle with water for tea. “I don’t think I should keep him waiting any longer. I’ll talk to you later,”</p><p>“Alright,” Chanyeol sounded resigned. “I’ll drop by sometime after dinner,”</p><p>“Yeah, thanks.”</p><p> </p><p><br/>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ahh main question, but did y'all figure out who the killer is? Because the killer is definitely here and I'm pretty sure it's really obvious because one of my friends who read it through guessed it immediately lol. So I tried to make it a bit more shrouded in mystery after, but I'm also very much sure I failed epically at that hahaha. </p><p> </p><p>If any part of the fic is unclear, do let me know so I can work on making it flow better. </p><p> </p><p>I'm also very sorry to all vampire au fans for making it vampire + criminal au but literally nothing else popped into my head when I was thinking up prompts ahhh. I'm so sorry if this isn't what you expected whoops </p><p> </p><p>And well, the whole medical pov for vampires, I have no excuse -.- my education cannot leave me so easily `°` </p><p> </p><p>Do leave me comments and kudos if you liked it enough!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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